{{infobox language |name

Irish |nativename'''' |pronunciation |speakers 1.66 million with some knowledge (2006 Republic only) |statesIreland (Republic of) (1.66 million)United Kingdom (95,000)United States (18,000) Newfoundland |regionGaeltachtaí, but also spoken throughout Ireland |scriptLatin (Irish variant) |familycolorIndo-European |fam2Celtic |fam3Insular Celtic |fam4Goidelic |nation |minority (Northern Ireland) |agencyForas na Gaeilge |iso1ga |iso2gle |iso3gle |lingua50-AAA

Notice

IPA }}

Irish (), also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of the population. It is considered to be an important part of the island's culture and heritage. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is an official language of the European Union and an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland. A speaker of the language may be called a ''Gaeilgeoir'' both in Irish and in English.

Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. It began to decline under English and British rule after the seventeenth century. The nineteenth century saw a dramatic decrease in the number of speakers especially after the Great Famine of 1845–1852 (where Ireland lost half its population either to emigration or death). Irish-speaking areas were especially hard hit. By the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers (''Gaeilgeoirí'') have been in the minority except in areas collectively known as Gaeltachtaí (singular: ''Gaeltacht''). Ongoing efforts have been made to preserve, promote and revive the language.

Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 to 80,000 people. In the Republic, there are over 72,000 people who use Irish as a daily language outside of education as a spoken vernacular, as well as a larger minority of the population who are fluent but do not use it on a daily basis. (While census figures indicate 1.66 million people in the Republic with some knowledge, a significant percentage of these know only a little Irish). Numerous Irish speakers reside in Britain, the United States and other countries.

Names of the language

Irish

In (the official written standard) the name of the language is (). Before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled ; originally this was the genitive of , the form used in classical Modern Irish. Older spellings of this include in Classical Irish [ge:ʝəlˠg] and [goiðelˠg] in Old Irish. The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ''dh'' in the middle of ''Gaedhilge''.

Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht mentioned above, include () or () in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and () in Munster Irish.

English

In European English, the language is usually referred to as ''Irish''. The term ''Irish Gaelic'' is often used when English speakers discuss the relationship among the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) or when discussion of Irish is confused to mean Hiberno-English, the form of English as spoken in Ireland. Scottish Gaelic is often referred to in English as simply ''Gaelic''. Outside Ireland, the term ''Gaelic'' or "Irish Gaelic" is also frequently used for the Irish language. The archaic term ''Erse'' (from ''Erische''), originally a Scots form of the word ''Irish'' applied in Scotland (by Lowlanders) to all of the Goidelic languages, is no longer used for any Goidelic language.

History

Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the fourth century AD; this stage of the language is known as Primitive Irish. These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish transitioned into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from the sixth century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. By the 10th century Old Irish evolved into Middle Irish, which was spoken throughout Ireland and in Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the famous Ulster Cycle. From the 12th century Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man. Early Modern Irish, dating from the thirteenth century, was the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland, and is attested by such writers as Geoffrey Keating. Modern Irish emerged from the literary language known as Early Modern Irish in Ireland and as Classical Gaelic in Scotland; this was used through the 18th century.

From the eighteenth century the language went into a decline, rapidly losing ground to English due in part to restrictions dictated by British rule – a conspicuous example of the process known by linguists as language shift. In the mid-nineteenth century it lost a large portion of its speakers to death and emigration resulting from poverty, particularly in the wake of the Great Famine (1845–1849).

At the end of the nineteenth century, members of the Gaelic Revival movement made efforts to encourage the learning and use of Irish in Ireland. Particular emphasis was placed at that point on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich, but efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature.

Phonology

In pronunciation, Irish most closely resembles its nearest relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx. One notable feature is that consonants (except ) come in pairs, one "broad" (velarized, pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled back towards the soft palate) and one "slender" (palatalized, pronounced with the middle of the tongue pushed up towards the hard palate). While broad-slender pairs are not unique to Irish (Russian has something similar), they can pose a problem for English-speakers.

Diphthongs: iə, uə, əi, əu.

Grammar

The grammar of Irish shares with other Celtic languages a number of features which, while not unique, are unusual in an Indo-European context. The grammatical features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the initial consonant mutations, the verb–subject–object word order, and the use of two different forms for "to be".

None of these features are peculiar to Irish, however. All of them occur in other Celtic languages as well as in non-Celtic languages: morphosyntactically triggered initial consonant mutations are found in Fula; VSO word order is found in Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew; and Portuguese, Spanish and Italian have two different forms for "to be". The use of prepositional pronouns recalls the Semitic languages, as well as some lesser-known European languages such as Venetian.

The situation is complicated by dialect variations, by a recommended standard and by what appears to be a colloquial simplification of both grammar and pronunciation by fluent speakers in the urban context.

Syntax

Irish is a VSO (verb–subject–object) language, and uses two verbs 'to be". One of these, the copula (known in Irish as ), is used to describe the permanent identity or characteristic of a person or thing as opposed to temporary aspects.

The adjective normally follows the noun (the possessive adjectives are an exception), but there are a certain number of adjectives and particles which may function as prefixes.

Morphology

Irish is an inflected language, having, in its standard form, the following cases: ''common'' (the old nominative and accusative), ''vocative'' and ''genitive''. In Munster dialects a dative form persisted, though this has been largely discarded by younger speakers. The present inflectional system represents a radical simplification of the grammar of Old Irish.

Irish nouns may be masculine or feminine (the neuter having disappeared). To a certain degree the gender difference is indicated by specific word endings, ''-án'' and ''-ín'' being masculine and ''-óg'' feminine.

Another feature of Irish grammar that is shared with other Celtic languages is the use of prepositional pronouns (), which are essentially conjugated prepositions. For example, the word for "at" is , which in the first person singular becomes "at me". When used with the verb ("to be") indicates possession; this is the equivalent of the English verb "to have".

"I have a book." (Literally, "there is a book at me.") "You have a book." "He has a book." "She has a book." "We have a book." "You (plural) have a book." "They have a book."

Mutations

Irish shares with other Celtic languages a feature known as mutation, whereby initial and final consonants may change to express nuances of grammatical relationship and meaning. Mutation affects verbs, nouns and adjectives. Certain consonants may be capable of changing in two ways, depending on the context.

In Irish, there are two classes of initial consonant mutations:

Lenition (in Irish, "softening") describes the change of stops into fricatives. Indicated in old orthography by a written above the changed consonant, this is now shown in writing by adding an -''h'':

"throw!" – "I threw" (this is an example of the lenition as a past-tense marker, which is caused by the use of , although it is now usually omitted)

"market", "market-place", "bargain" – "the man of the street" (word for word "Tadhg of the market-place"; here we see the lenition marking the genitive case of a masculine noun)

"Seán, John" – "O John!" (here we see lenition as part of what is called the vocative case – in fact, the vocative lenition is triggered by the or vocative marker before )

Eclipsis (in Irish, ) covers the voicing of voiceless stops, as well as the nasalisation of voiced stops.

"father" – "our Father"

"start", "at the start"

"Galway" – "in Galway"

Mutations are often the only way to distinguish similar grammatical forms. For example, the only way (apart from context) in which the possessive pronouns "her," "his" and "their" can be distinguished is through initial mutations, since all these meanings are represented by the same word ''a''. It is seen here in apposition to the word ''bróg'' (shoe):

their shoe – ''a mbróg'' (eclipsis)

his shoe – ''a bhróg'' (lenition)

her shoe – ''a bróg'' (unchanged)

Orthography

The alphabet which modern Irish typically uses is similar to English without the letters j,k,q,w,x,y,z; however, some anglicised words with no unique Irish meaning use those letters: for instance, 'Jeep' is written as 'Jíp'. Some words take a letter(s) not traditionally used and replace it with the closest phonetic sound, e.g. 'phone'>'Fón'. The written language looks rather daunting to those unfamiliar with it. Once understood, the orthography is relatively straightforward.

Modern Irish has only one diacritic sign, the acute accent (''á é í ó ú''), known in Irish as the "long mark", plural . In English this is frequently referred to simply as the , where the adjective is used as a noun. It serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality. For example, in Munster Irish (Kerry), ''a'' is or and ''á'' is in "law" but in Ulster Irish (Donegal), ''á'' tends to be .

Around the time of World War II, Séamas Daltún, in charge of (the official translations department of the Irish government), issued his own guidelines about how to standardise Irish spelling and grammar. This de facto standard was subsequently approved of by the State and called the Official Standard or . It simplified and standardised the orthography. Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one or more were selected.

Examples: → , "Irish language" ( or is still used in books written in dialect by Munster authors, or as a facetious name for the Munster dialect) → , "Louth" → , "food"

The standard spelling does not always reflect every dialect's pronunciation. For example, in standard Irish, ''bia'', "food", has the genitive ''bia''. But in Munster Irish, the genitive is pronounced . For this reason, the spelling is still used by the speakers of some dialects, in particular those that show a meaningful and audible difference between (nominative case) and (genitive case) "of food, food's". In Munster, the latter spelling regularly produces the pronunciation because final ''-idh, -igh'' regularly delenites to ''-ig'' in Munster pronunciation. Another example would be the word ''crua'', meaning "hard". This pronounced in Munster, in line with the pre-Caighdeán spelling, ''cruaidh''. In Munster, ''ao'' is pronounced and ''aoi'' pronounced , but the new spellings of ''saoghal'', "life, world", genitive: ''saoghail'', have become ''saol'', genitive ''saoil''. This produces irregularities in the matchup between the spelling and pronunciation in Munster, because the word is pronounced , genitive .

The dot-above diacritic, called a or (often shortened to ), derives from the ''punctum delens'' used in medieval manuscripts to indicate deletion, similar to crossing out unwanted words in handwriting today. From this usage it was used to indicate the lenition of ''s'' (from to ) and ''f'' (from to zero) in Old Irish texts.

Lenition of ''c'', ''p'', and ''t'' was indicated by placing the letter ''h'' after the affected consonant; lenition of other sounds was left unmarked. Later both methods were extended to be indicators of lenition of any sound except ''l'' and ''n'', and two competing systems were used: lenition could be marked by a or by a postposed ''h''. Eventually, use of the predominated when texts were written using Gaelic letters, while the ''h'' predominated when writing using Roman letters.

Today the Gaelic script and the are rarely used except where a "traditional" style is required, e.g. the motto on the University College Dublin coat of arms or the symbol of the Irish Defence Forces, The Irish Defence Forces cap badge . Letters with the are available in Unicode and Latin-8 character sets (see Latin Extended Additional chart).

Dialects

Irish is represented by several traditional dialects and by various varieties of urban Irish, the latter influenced in grammar and phonology by both traditional Irish and by English. Differences between the dialects make themselves felt in stress, intonation, vocabulary and structural features.

There are a number of distinct dialects of Irish. Roughly speaking, the three major dialect areas coincide with the provinces of Munster (), Connacht () and Ulster (). Records of some dialects of Leinster were made by the Irish Folklore Commission among other bodies prior to their extinction. Newfoundland, in eastern Canada, is also seen to have (or have had) a minor dialect of Irish, closely resembling the Munster Irish spoken during the 16th to 17th centuries (see Newfoundland Irish).

Munster

Munster Irish is mainly spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Kerry (), Ring () near Dungarvan () in County Waterford () and Muskerry () and Cape Clear Island () in the western part of County Cork (). The most important subdivision in Munster is that between Decies Irish (''Na Déise'') (spoken in Waterford) and the rest of Munster Irish.

Some typical features of Munster Irish are: # The use of endings to show person on verbs in parallel with a pronominal subject system, thus "I must" is in Munster as well as , while other dialects prefer ( means "I"). "I was and you were" is as well as in Munster, but more commonly in other dialects. Note that these are strong tendencies, and the personal forms ''Bhíos'' etc. are used in the West and North, particularly when the words are last in the clause. # Use of independent/dependent forms of verbs that are not included in the Standard. For example, "I see" in Munster is , which is the independent form – Northern Irish also uses a similar form, ''tchím''), whereas "I do not see" is , ''feicim'' being the dependent form, which is used after particles such as ''ní'' "not"). ''Chím'' is replaced by ''feicim'' in the Standard. Similarly, the traditional form preserved in Munster I give/ is / in the Standard; I get/ is /. # When before -''nn'', -''m'', -''rr'', -''rd'', -''ll'' and so on, in monosyllabic words and in the stressed syllable of multisyllabic words where the syllable is followed by a consonant, some short vowels are lengthened while others are diphthongised, thus ''ceann'' "head", ''cam'' "crooked", ''gearr'' "short", ''ord'' "sledgehammer", ''gall'' "foreigner, non-Gael", ''iontas'' "a wonder, a marvel", ''compánach'' "companion, mate", etc. # A copular construction involving "it" is frequently used. Thus "I am an Irish person" can be said ''is Éireannach mé'' and ''Éireannach is ea mé'' in Munster; there is a subtle difference in meaning, however, the first choice being a simple statement of fact, while the second brings emphasis onto the word ''Éireannach''. In effect the construction is a type of "fronting". # Both masculine and feminine words are subject to lenition after ''insan'' (''sa''/''san'') "in the", ''den'' "of the" and ''don'' "to/for the" : ''sa tsiopa'', "in the shop", compared to the Standard ''sa siopa'' (the Standard lenites only feminine nouns in the dative in these cases). # Eclipsis of ''f'' after ''sa'': ''sa bhfeirm'', "in the farm", instead of ''san fheirm''. # Eclipsis of ''t'' and ''d'' after preposition + singular article, with all prepositions except after ''insan'', ''den'' and ''don'': ''ar an dtigh'' "on the house", ''ag an ndoras'' "at the door". # Stress falls in general found on the second syllable of a word when the first syllable contains a short vowel, and the second syllable contains a long vowel, diphthong, or is ''-(e)ach'', e.g. ("pin"), as opposed to in Connacht and Ulster.

Connacht

The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found in Connemara and the Aran Islands. Much closer to the larger Connacht Gaeltacht is the dialect spoken in the smaller region on the border between Galway () and Mayo (). The northern Mayo dialect of Erris () and Achill () is in grammar and morphology essentially a Connacht dialect, but shows some similarities to Ulster Irish due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following the Plantation of Ulster.

Features in Connemara Irish differing from the official standard include a preference for verbal nouns ending in , e.g. instead of , "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation of the Cois Fharraige area with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings gives it a distinct sound. Distinguishing features of Connacht and Ulster dialect include the pronunciation of word final broad ''bh'' and ''mh'' as , rather than as in Munster. For example ("mountain") is pronounced in Connacht and Ulster as opposed to in the south. In addition Connacht and Ulster speakers tend to include the "we" pronoun rather than use the standard compound form used in Munster e.g. is used for "we were" instead of .

Like in Munster Irish, when before -''nn'', -''m'', -''rr'', -''rd'', -''ll'' and so on, in monosyllabic words and in the stressed syllable of multisyllabic words where the syllable is followed by a consonant, some short vowels are lengthened while others are diphthongised, thus ''ceann'' [kʲɑ:n] "head", ''cam'' [kɑ:m] "crooked", ''gearr'' [gʲɑ:r] "short", ''ord'' [ourd] "sledgehammer", ''gall'' [gɑ:l] "foreigner, non-Gael", ''iontas'' [i:ntəs] "a wonder, a marvel", etc.

The present-day Irish of Meath (in Leinster) is a special case. It belongs mainly to the Connemara dialect. The Irish-speaking community in Meath is mostly a group of Connemara speakers who moved there in the 1930s after a land reform campaign spearheaded by Máirtín Ó Cadhain (who subsequently became one of the greatest modernist writers in the language).

Irish President Douglas Hyde was one of the last of speakers of the Roscommon dialect of Irish.

Ulster

Linguistically the most important of the Ulster dialects today is that of the Rosses (), which has been used extensively in literature by such authors as the brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna, locally known as Jimí Fheilimí and Joe Fheilimí. This dialect is essentially the same as that in Gweedore ( = Inlet of Streaming Water), and used by native singers Enya () and Máire Brennan and their siblings in Clannad ( = Family from the Dobhar [a section of Gweedore]) Na Casaidigh, and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh from another local band Altan.

Ulster Irish sounds very different and shares several features with southern dialects of Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic, as well as having lots of characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today Northern Ireland, it is probably an exaggeration to see present-day Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. Northern Scottish Gaelic has many non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish.

One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish, Manx Gaelic and Scots Gaelic is the use of the negative particle in place of the Munster and Connacht . Though southern Ulster Irish tends to use more than ''cha(n)'', ''cha(n)'' has almost ousted ''ní'' in northernmost dialects (e.g. Rosguill and Tory Island), though even in these areas "is not" is more common than ''chan fhuil'' or ''cha bhfuil''.

Another noticeable trait is the pronunciation of the first person singular verb ending ''-im'' as ''-am'', also common to Ulster, Man and Scotland (Munster/Connacht/Leinster ''siúlaim'' "I walk", Ulster ''siúlam'', Manx ''shooylym'').

An Caighdeán Oifigiúil

''An Caighdeán Oifigiúil'' ("The Official Standard"), often shortened to ''An Caighdeán'', is the standard language, which is taught in most schools in Ireland, though with strong influences from local dialects. It was published by the translators in Dáil Éireann in the 1950s.

Its development in the 1950s and 1960s had two purposes. One was to simplify Irish spelling, which had retained its Classical spelling, by removing many silent letters, and to give a standard written form that was mutually intelligible by speakers with different dialects. Though many aspects of the Caighdeán are essentially those of Connacht Irish, this was simply because this is the central dialect which forms a "bridge", as it were, between the North and South. In reality, dialect speakers pronounce words as in their own dialect, as the spelling simply reflects the pronunciation of Classical Irish. For example, "head" in early modern Irish was pronounced . The spelling has been retained, but the word is variously pronounced in the South, in Connacht, and in the North. "small" was in early modern Irish, and is now in Waterford Irish, in Cork-Kerry Irish, varies between and in the West, and is in the North.

The simplification was weighted in favour of the Western dialect. For example, the early modern Irish , dative case "bed" is pronounced as well as in Waterford Irish, in Cork-Kerry Irish, in Connacht Irish ( in Cois Fharraige Irish), and in the North. Native speakers from the North and South may consider that ''leabaidh'' should be the representation in the Caighdeán rather than actual . However, is the historically correct nominative form and arguably preferable to the historically incorrect yet common use of the dative form for the nominative.

On the other hand, in other cases the Caighdeán retained classical spellings even when none of the dialects had retained the corresponding pronunciation. For example, it has retained the Classical Irish spelling of "on, for, etc." and "at, by, of, etc.". The first is pronounced throughout the Goidelic-speaking world (and is written in Manx, and in Scottish Gaelic), and should be written either or in Irish. The second is pronounced in the South, and in the North and West. Again, Manx and Scottish Gaelic reflect this pronunciation much more clearly than Irish does (Manx , Scottish ).

In many cases, however, the Caighdeán can only refer to the Classical language, in that every dialect is different, as happens in the personal forms of "at, by, of, etc."

Munster : ''agùm'' , ''agùt'' , ''igè'' , ''icì'' , ''agùing'' / ''aguìng'' (West Cork/Kerry ''agùin'' / ''aguìn'' ), ''agùibh''/''aguìbh'' / , ''acù'' Connacht : ''am'' (''agam'' ), ''ad'' (''agad'' ), ''aige'' , ''aici'' , ''ainn'' (''againn'' ), ''aguí'' , ''acab'' Ulster : ''aigheam'' , ''aighead'' , ''aige'' , ''aicí'' , ''aighinn'' , ''aighif'' , ''acú'' Caighdeán : , ''agat'' , ''aige'' , ''aici'' , ''againn'' , ''agaibh'' , ''acu'' /

Another purpose was to create a grammatically regularised or "simplified" standard which would make the language more accessible for the majority English speaking school population. In part this is why the Caighdeán is not universally respected by native speakers, in that it makes simplified language an ideal, rather than the ideal that native speakers traditionally had of their dialects (or of the Classical dialect if they had knowledge of that). Of course, this was not the original aim of the developers, who rather saw the "school-version" Caighdeán as a means of easing second-language learners into the task of learning "full" Irish. The Caighdeán verb system is a prime example, with the reduction in irregular verb forms and personal forms of the verb – except for the first persons. However, once the word "standard" becomes used, the forms represented as "standard" take on a power of their own, and therefore the ultimate goal has become forgotten in many circles.

The Caighdeán is in general spoken by non-native speakers, frequently from the capital, and is sometimes also called "Dublin Irish" or "Urban Irish". As it is taught in many Irish-Language schools (where Irish is the main, or sometimes only, medium of instruction), it is also sometimes called "Gaelscoil Irish". The so-called "Belfast Irish", spoken in that city's Gaeltacht Quarter is the Caighdeán heavily influenced by Ulster Irish and Belfast English.

Comparisons

The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in defining standard Irish. A good example is the greeting "How are you?". Just as this greeting varies from region to region, and between social classes, among English speakers, this greeting varies among Irish speakers:

Ulster: ("What is it as you are?" Note: or and sometimes are alternative renderings of ) Connacht: ("What way [is it] that you are?") Munster: or ("How are you?" – ''conas'' was originally ''cia nós'' "what custom/way") "Standard" Irish: ("How are you?")

In recent decades contacts between speakers of different dialects have become more frequent and the differences between the dialects are less noticeable.

Current status

Republic of Ireland

Irish is given recognition by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland (with English being a second official language). In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his auguration ''Declaration of Office'' in Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect.

From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see also ''History of the Republic of Ireland''), the Irish Government required a degree of proficiency in Irish for all those who became newly appointed to civil service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.). Proficiency in just one official language for entrance to the public service was introduced in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the Language Freedom Movement.

Though the First Official Language requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also ''Education in the Republic of Ireland''). Those wishing to teach in primary schools in the State must also pass a compulsory examination called "Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge". The need for a pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English for entry to the Gardaí (police) was introduced in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. All official documents of the Irish Government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (this is according to the official languages act 2003, which is enforced by "An Comisinéir Teanga", the Irish language ombudsman).

The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on a degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE/GCSE Examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students born outside of the Republic of Ireland, those who were born in the Republic but completed primary education outside it, and students diagnosed with dyslexia.

The National University of Ireland, Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). It is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course.

For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in the mainstream (English-medium) schools to achieve competence in the language, even after fourteen years. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern.

There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in the cities. Most of these are products of an independent education system in which Irish is the sole language of instruction. Such schools are known at the primary level as ''Gaelscoileanna'' and are supported by a number of secondary colleges. These Irish-medium schools send a much higher proportion of students on to tertiary level than do the mainstream schools, and it seems increasingly likely that, within a generation, habitual users of Irish will typically be members of an urban, middle-class and highly educated minority.

Even though modern parliamentary legislation is supposed to be issued in both Irish and English, in practice it is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in the other official language—if not already passed in both official languages.

Gaeltacht

There are parts of Ireland where Irish is still spoken as a traditional, native language used daily. These regions are known collectively as Gaeltachts, or in the plural Irish ''Gaeltachtaí''. While the Gaeltacht's fluent Irish speakers, whose numbers have been estimated by scholar Donncha Ó hÉallaithe at twenty or thirty thousand, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it is only in Gaeltacht areas (in especial the more strongly Irish-speaking ones) that Irish continues to be a natural vernacular of the general population.

There are Gaeltacht regions in: County Galway (), including Connemara (), the Aran Islands (), Carraroe () and Spiddal (); on the west coast of County Donegal (); in the part which is known as Tyrconnell (); Dingle Peninsula () and Iveragh Peninsula () in County Kerry ().

Smaller ones also exist in counties Mayo (''''), Meath (''''), Waterford (''''), and Cork ('''').

To summarise the extent of the survival: (See Hindley, 'The Death of the Irish Language', Map 7: Irish speakers by towns and distinct electoral divisions, census 1926.) Irish remains as a natural vernacular in the following areas: south Connemara, from a point west of Spiddal, covering Inverin, Carraroe, Rosmuck, and the islands; the Aran Islands; northwest Donegal in the area around Gweedore, including Rannafast, Gortahork, the surrounding townlands and Tory Island; in the townland of Rathcarn, Co. Meath.

Gweedore (),County Donegal is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland.

The numerically and socially strongest Gaeltacht areas are those of South Connemara, the west of the Dingle Peninsula and northwest Donegal, in which the majority of residents use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as the ("true Gaeltacht") and collectively have a population just under 20,000.

Irish summer colleges are attended by tens of thousands of Irish teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to ''céilithe'' and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged.

According to data compiled by the Irish Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in officially Gaeltacht areas possess a fluency in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments a "complete and absolute disaster". ''The Irish Times'', referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper ''Foinse'', quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but the number now is between 20,000 and 30,000."

Northern Ireland

Prior to the establishment of the Northern Ireland state in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years the political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. The language received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and then, in 2003, by the Government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The British government promised to create legislation encouraging the language as part of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.

European Union

Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007 meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the EU Parliament in Europe and at committees although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of the European Union, only co-decision regulations must be available in Irish for the moment, due to a renewable five-year derogation on what has to be translated, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. Any expansion in the range of documents to be translated will depend on the results of the first five-year review and on whether the Irish authorities decide to seek an extension. The Irish government has committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs.

Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU had been made available in Irish.

Outside Ireland

The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora, chiefly to Britain and North America, but also to Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. The first large movements began in the 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest, which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies. Irish emigration to America was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine. This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English was steadily establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and it is likely that some of them spoke Irish.

Relatively few of the emigrants were literate in Irish, but many manuscripts arrived in America, and it was there that the first Irish-language newspaper was established. In Australia, too, the language found its way into print. The Gaelic Revival, which started in Ireland in the 1890s, found a response abroad, with branches of the Gaelic League being established in all the countries to which Irish speakers had emigrated.

The decline of Irish in Ireland and a slowing of emigration help ensure a decline in the language abroad, along with natural attrition in the host countries. Despite this, a handful of enthusiasts continued to learn and cultivate Irish in diaspora countries and elsewhere, a trend which strengthened in the second half of the 20th century. Today the language is taught at tertiary level in North America, Australia and Europe, and Irish speakers outside Ireland contribute to journalism and literature in the language.

See also

Béarlachas, Anglicisms in Irish

Buntús Cainte, a course in basic spoken Irish

Cumann Gaelach, Irish language Society

Dictionary of the Irish Language

Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish

Gaelic Revival

Goidelic substrate hypothesis

Hiberno-Latin, a variety of Medieval Latin used in Irish monasteries. It included Greek, Hebrew and Celtic neologisms.

Irish name and Place names in Irish

Irish words used in the English language

Language Freedom Movement

List of artists who have released Irish language songs

List of English words of Irish origin

List of Ireland-related topics

List of Irish-language given names

List of Irish-language media

Modern literature in Irish

Status of the Irish language

Notes

External links

General links

Irish phrasebook at Wiktravel

BCI: Irish language media stats

Discover Irish

Foras na Gaeilge – Official promotional body for the Irish language throughout the island of Ireland

Gaeilge ar an ghréasán Irish online resources

'Gael-Taca (Corcaigh)'

"Learning Irish?," ''BBC''

"Social Network for learners, teachers and speakers,"

The Irish Language And The Irish People Report

"Learn Irish online easily with a new Irish word each day,"

Gaelscoil stats

Irish language Fund for Overseas Institutions

Irish language schedule for Electric Picnic

Giotaí and Top 40 Offigiúla na hÉireann programmes

Irish Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

Grammar and pronunciation

''A dialect of Donegal'' (a phonological description of the dialect of Glenties by E. C. Quiggin, from 1906)

An Gael Magazine – Irish Gaelic Arts, Culture, And History Alive Worldwide Today

A short Irish and Breton phrase list with Japanese translation(Renewal) incl sound file

Braesicke's Gramadach na Gaeilge (Engl. translation)

''Die araner mundart'' (a phonological description of the dialect of the Aran Islands by F. N. Finck, from 1899)

Dictionaries

Acmhainn.ie – Dictionary and terminology resource

Collaborative Irish dictionary

''Foclóir Téarmaíochta'', a large terminology database developed by FIONTAR, DCU

General Gaelic Dictionaries

Online English–Irish dictionary

Irish-English Audio/Image dictionary

Category:Goidelic languages Category:Junior Certificate subjects Category:Languages of Ireland Category:Languages of the United Kingdom Category:VSO languages

af:Iers-Gaelies ang:Īrisc sprǣc ar:لغة أيرلندية an:Idioma irlandés frp:Gaèlico irlandês ast:Irlandés az:İrland dili bn:আইরিশ ভাষা be:Ірландская мова be-x-old:Ірляндзкая мова bar:Irische Sproch bs:Irski jezik br:Iwerzhoneg bg:Ирландски език ca:Gaèlic irlandès cv:Ирланд чĕлхи cs:Irština cy:Gwyddeleg da:Irsk (sprog) de:Irische Sprache et:Iiri keel el:Ιρλανδική γλώσσα es:Idioma irlandés eo:Irlanda lingvo eu:Irlandako gaelera fa:زبان ایرلندی fo:Írskt mál fr:Irlandais fy:Iersk fur:Lenghe irlandese ga:An Ghaeilge gv:Yernish gd:Gàidhlig na h-Èireann gl:Lingua irlandesa xal:Гәәлгүдин келн ko:아일랜드어 hi:आयरिश भाषा hsb:Iršćina hr:Irski jezik io:Gaelana linguo id:Bahasa Irlandia os:Ирландиаг æвзаг is:Írska it:Lingua irlandese he:אירית ka:ირლანდიური ენა kw:Wordhonek kv:Ирландса кыв ku:Zimanê îrlandî la:Lingua Hibernica lv:Īru valoda lt:Airių kalba lij:Lengua irlandeise li:Iers lmo:Irlandés hu:Ír nyelv mk:Ирски јазик mr:आयरिश भाषा arz:ايرلاندى nl:Iers nds-nl:Iers ja:アイルランド語 ce:Irlandhoyn mott no:Irsk nn:Irsk språk nrm:Irlandais oc:Irlandés pnb:آئرش koi:Ир кыв pms:Lenga irlandèisa tpi:Tok Aialan pl:Język irlandzki pt:Língua irlandesa ro:Limba irlandeză rm:Lingua irlandaisa qu:Ilanda simi ru:Ирландский язык se:Iirragiella sc:Gaelicu Irlandiesu sco:Erse leid sq:Gjuha irlandeze simple:Irish language sk:Írčina sl:Irska gelščina ckb:زمانی ئیری sr:Ирски језик sh:Irski jezik fi:Iiri sv:Iriska tl:Wikang Irlandes ta:ஐரிய மொழி kab:Tirlandit tt:Ирланд теле tg:Забони ирландӣ tr:İrlandaca uk:Ірландська мова ug:ئرېلاندىيە تىلى vec:Łéngua irlandexe vi:Tiếng Ireland fiu-vro:Iiri kiil yi:איריש yo:Irishi diq:İrlandki zh:愛爾蘭語

name	Dara Ó Briain
birth date	February 04, 1972
birth place	Bray, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland
medium	Stand up, Television
nationality	Irish
active	1998 - Present
genre	Improvisation comedyObservational comedySatire
influences	Eddie IzzardPaul MertonLewis Black
spouse	Susan (2006-present)
notable work	''Don't Feed The Gondolas'' (1998-2000)''The Panel'' (2003-2006)''Mock the Week'' (2005-present) ''Turn Back Time'' (2006) ''The Apprentice: You're Fired!'' (2010-present)
past members	}}

Dara Ó Briain (, born 4 February 1972) is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as ''The Panel'' and ''Mock the Week''.

Ó Briain has hosted and appeared on a number of successful panel shows; as well as ''The Panel'' and ''Mock the Week'' he has featured on ''Don't Feed the Gondolas'', ''Have I Got News For You'', ''QI'' and ''The Apprentice: You're Fired!''. The ''Irish Independent'' described him as "Terry Wogan's heir apparent as Britain's 'favourite Irishman'". Writing for ''The Evening Standard'', Bruce Dessau noted that "If you don’t laugh at Ó Briain, check your pulse, you must be dead."

Since January 2006, Ó Briain has taken part in the BBC ''Three Men in a Boat'' series, with Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones. The series, broadcast in pairs of episodes around new year in 2006 and then every year since 2008 have almost consistently brought in 3 million viewers.

In 2007 he was voted the 42nd greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 16th greatest stand-up comic.

Early life

Ó Briain was born in 1972, in Bray, County Wicklow, and attended Coláiste Eoin secondary school, a Gaelcholáiste on Dublin's southside. He attended University College, Dublin (U.C.D.), where he studied mathematics and theoretical physics. In 2008, he remarked: "I haven't written it into my act, but it occasionally comes through. I could come on with a chalkboard and say: 'Now you're all going to pay attention.'" While a student there, he was both the auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (the university's oldest debating society) and the co-founder and co-editor of ''The University Observer'' college newspaper. In 1994, he won the ''Irish Times'' National Debating Championship and ''The Irish Times''/Gael Linn National Irish language debating championship; he is fluent in Irish, and speaks to his father only in Irish.

Career

Early career

After leaving college, Ó Briain began working at RTÉ as a children's TV presenter. At this time he also began performing his first stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit. He admitted, "I did the trip from Dublin to Donegal to play to six people; then I turned round and drove home again. I did about three or four years playing to a lot of bad rooms, but learning as I went. It's not bad when someone gives you £40 for standing up and telling jokes. I remember thinking: 'This is the life.'" Ó Briain spent three years as a presenter on the bilingual (Irish and English) language children's programme ''Echo Island'' but came to prominence as a team captain on the topical panel show'' Don't Feed The Gondolas'' (1998–2000) hosted by Seán Moncrieff. Ó Briain also hosted RTÉ family entertainment gameshow ''It's A Family Affair''.

Stand-up comedy

Ó Briain's stand up career internationally took off around this time as he began to tour heavily, performing across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, with gigs in Dubai, Boston, Adelaide, Shanghai and New York. He was a regular at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as making one notable appearance at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal in 2002 where he was offered a prestigious gala show because of his performances at the Irish showcase. Around this time Ó Briain presented the weekend mainstream game show ''It's a Family Affair'' for RTÉ. It was the first time he worked with former Channel 4 commissioning editor Séamus Cassidy. They later set up the production company Happy Endings Productions, and together they produced (and Ó Briain presented) the chat show ''Buried Alive'' (2003) and most famously in Ireland ''The Panel'' (2003–2006).

On March 12, 2011 Dara set a new Guinness World Records title with Jack Whitehall and Jon Richardson, for hosting the 'Highest stand up comedy gig in the world', on a British Airways flight in support of Comic Relief.

Panel shows

''The Panel'' was hosted by Ó Briain. Three times nominated for the Best Entertainment show IFTA (Irish Film and Television Award) the show has a rotating cast of panelists, usually drawn from the world of Irish comedy, discussing the events of the week and interviewing guests. The most regular panelists have been Colin Murphy, Ed Byrne, Neil Delamere and Andrew Maxwell.

Around 2002, with his profile rising across in the UK due to his one-man shows at the Edinburgh fringe festival, Ó Briain began to make appearances on UK television shows such as ''Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment'' (a Channel 5 production) and ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''. At the start of 2003 he hosted the second series of BBC Scotland's ''Live Floor Show''. His big break in UK television came in 2003 when he appeared as a guest panelist on the popular news quiz, ''Have I Got News for You'', subsequently making several appearances as guest host of the show.

He was nominated in 2003 at the ''Chortle Comedy Awards for Live Comedy'' in the categories Best Compère and Best Headline Act (which he would go on to win). In 2004 he won the Best Headliner award again, as well as being nominated for Best Full-length Show. Since 2005 he has been the host of the comedy panel game ''Mock the Week'' on BBC television, a blend between ''Have I Got News for You'' and ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?''. He is a relatively frequent panelist on ''QI'', and wrote about Ireland in the ''QI'' series E annual, and appears occasionally on ''Just a Minute'' on BBC Radio 4. He has also appeared in and hosted the stand-up show ''Live at the Apollo''.

Ó Briain starred in the BBC Radio show about "the world according to science". Episode 1 of "Infinite Monkey Cage" began on 30 November 2009 on Radio 4 at 16:30 GMT.

In 2010, Ó Briain hosted The Sixth series of ''The Apprentice: You're Fired!'' and appeared twice on the Sky1 show, ''A League of Their Own''. He also presented the seventh series in 2011.

From 3 to 5 January 2011 Ó Briain and Professor Brian Cox presented ''Stargazing Live'' on BBC Two, three programmmes based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, scheduled to coincide with the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus, a partial solar eclipse, and the Quadrantid meteor shower.

Tours, chat shows and writing

Since 2006 Ó Briain has starred in the BBC's ''Three Men in a Boat'' series, alongside Griff Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath. The series has included the trio rowing the River Thames, as in the 1889 novel of the same name, sailing from London to the Isle of Wight for a sail boat race, borrowing numerous vessels to make their way from Plymouth to the Isles of Scilly. In 2009 the three took to the Irish canals and rivers on a trip from Dublin to Limerick. In 2010 they explored the Isles of Scotland. Other notable television work includes hosting the BBC sitcom writing competition "Last Laugh".

In 2005, Ó Briain's show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the biggest selling solo comedy show of the festival. On 14 September 2005, he appeared as a guest on ''Room 101'', where he got rid of children's television presenters (originating from his co-presenters on ''Echo Island'') and once-in-a-lifetime experiences (he was given a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the show, by being the second guest, the first being former host Nick Hancock, to pull the lever that opens the chute to Room 101), banter, Gillian McKeith (host of ''You Are What You Eat'') and magicians.

Ó Briain conducted his third and largest multinational tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland in early 2006. This included shows at the Theatre Royal, MEN Arena, Symphony Hall, Grand Opera House, as well as 9 nights in Dublin at Vicar Street. His second night in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London was recorded for his first live DVD. His fourth multinational tour followed in late 2007, which as he says in his routine has "no title" but was almost entitled "You Had to Be There". Ó Briain has also been an extensive newspaper columnist, with pieces published in many national papers in both the UK and Ireland, from ''The Sunday Times'' to ''The Daily Telegraph''. On 9 August 2006, he hosted the first edition of his new celebrity chat show, ''Turn Back Time''.

Ó Briain released his first book on 1 October 2009, the book is entitled ''Tickling the English'' and is about what he perceives it means to be English. As part of its promotion he has stated that he is a great fan of English culture and a student of English history, his favourite periods being the Gin Craze and the civil war. In a review of ''Tickling the English'' Ó Briain was described as Sir Terry Wogan's heir apparent as Britain's "favourite Irishman".

Ó Briain hosted the British Academy Video Games Awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The awards were streamed live for the first time in 2010 at BAFTA.org and again in 2011.

In 2011, Ó Briain took part in two shows of the 16-date ''Uncaged Monkeys'' tour with names such as Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh and Chris Addison.

Personal life

Ó Briain married his wife Susan, a surgeon, in 2006 and they have a daughter, born in 2008. He describes himself as looking like "one of Tony Soprano's henchmen", and admits that, "living in London I probably only get recognised about once a day. And that's okay by me. I'm not a celebrity. And I certainly don't see myself as one."

Ó Briain has said he sees himself as an atheist, but "ethnically Catholic": "I’m staunchly atheist, I simply don’t believe in God. But I’m still Catholic, of course. Catholicism has a much broader reach than just the religion. I’m technically Catholic, it’s the box you have to tick on the census form: ‘Don’t believe in God, but I do still hate Rangers.’"

His surname is the original Irish form of O'Brien. He admitted, "My dad was involved in the Irish language movement and changed it. Even Irish people are now confused by it".

He is a keen Arsenal F.C. fan.

In his stand-up show, he's been known to note that he's "a gamer, and proud to be a gamer", stating his favourites games include the Gears of War series.

Ó Briain was one of fifteen members of a racing greyhound syndicate for several years. The December 2009 transmission of ''Three Men Go To Ireland'' featured their dog Snip Nua who, by the time of transmission, had been put down following injuries sustained in a race. Ó Briain was so upset about the death that he and his fellow syndicate members immediately disbanded the syndicate permanently. In early 2010 a series of small demonstrations were held outside some of Ó Briain's tour venues, urging him to publicly denounce the sport of greyhound racing due to the dog's death.

Stand-Up DVDs

!Title	!Released	!Notes
''Live At The Theatre Royal''	13 November 2006
''Talks Funny - Live in London''	17 November 2008	Live at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo
''This Is the Show''	22 November 2010	Live at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo

See also

Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)

References

External links

Dara Ó Briain 's Official Twitter Page

Dara Ó Briain on OffTheKerb.co.uk

Dara Ó Briain on Chortle

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin) Category:Irish comedians Category:Irish stand-up comedians Category:Irish television personalities Category:Irish atheists Category:Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:People from County Wicklow Category:People from Bray Category:Former Roman Catholics

cy:Dara Ó Briain da:Dara Ó Briain ga:Dara Ó Briain nl:Dara Ó Briain ru:О'Бриен, Даре sv:Dara Ó Briain

name	Des Bishop
birth name	Desmond Ryan Bishop
birth date	November 12, 1975
birth place	London, England
residence	Rialto, Dublin, Ireland
nationality	Irish
education	BA History and English from UCC
occupation	Stand-up comedian
website	http://www.desbishop.com
footnotes	}}

Des Bishop (''Deasún Mac an Easpaig'' in Irish) (born 12 November 1975) is an Irish comedian and was brought up in New York. He is now primarily based in Ireland, after moving to County Wexford in 1990 at the age of 14.

Approach to Comedy

Bishop's comedy was originally heavily based on his observation of Irish society, supported by his talent for impersonating the regional variations of the Irish accent. His website says "Des has developed a unique style of observational comedy, most critical of his adopted home in Ireland and the America he left behind.".

Bishop's comedy has since grappled with social issues, such as poverty. In 2000, Bishop was diagnosed with testicular cancer - rather than shy away from this subject, Des went on to turn his experiences into comedy material.

Life & career

Des has worked as a comic in Ireland since the late 1990s. He began hosting shows at the International Comedy Cellar - a venue set up by Irish comics such as Ardal O'Hanlon, Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy. It was here that Bishop honed his act.

Bishop first reached a TV audience in early 2000, after appearing on ''Don't Feed the Gondolas'', a news based topical TV show. He later had to pull out of this show due to personal reasons.

Bishop created a "hip-hopera" called "''RAP ÉIRE''" along with Arthur Riordan. "Rap Éire" was a satire following the story of an ambitious American who finds himself mixed up with a group of political types during the throes of early Celtic Tiger fervour. The show had two runs - firstly in the Project Arts centre in February 2001 and afterwards in the Andrews Lane Theatre the following summer. Bishop performed every night of the first run while receiving radiotherapy for testicular Cancer (the original premier date for the play at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2000 had to be cancelled as a result of the original diagnosis of cancer).

Bishop appeared in the 2002 film, ''In America'', in which he played a high stockbroker rapping in the back of a NYC taxi cab.

He reached a broader audience after his TV show ''The Des Bishop Work Experience'' screened on RTÉ Two in 2004. The show featured him attempting to survive for one month working a minimum wage job in various parts of Ireland. During the series, he worked at Abrakebabra, Waterford; The Aqua-dome, Tralee; Superquinn, Dundalk; and the Central Hotel, Dublin.

A more recent TV show, named ''Joy in the Hood'', featured him travelling to impoverished areas of Ireland's major cities and mentoring local people in stand-up comedy.

Bishop and Riordan co-wrote "''Shooting Gallery''", their second collaboration. This had a short run in Dublin in 2005.

Personal & Family

Bishop attended St. Francis Preparatory School in the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. At the age of 16, he began school at St Peter's College, Wexford in Ireland. He later re-sat his Leaving Certificate at Blackrock College, Dublin. He has a degree in English and History from University College Cork.

Des' brother Aidan is now a working comedian in Ireland. Both are involved in running the International Comedy Club.

He is first cousins with Laura Martin who is married to Ardal O Hanlon.

His father died from lung cancer in February 2011.

Irish Language

Des's TV show, ''In the Name of the Fada'' premiered in 2008. It deals with Des trying to learn Irish to a standard sufficient to perform an entire standup act through the language. He later used his Irish to sing the Gaeilge version of the song ''Jump Around'' called ''Léim Thart''

The DVD of his live show Tongues and The DVD of the series In the Name of the Fada were released 14/11/08

DVDs

''Des Bishop - Live At Vicar Street'' (2005)

''Des Bishop - Live '' (2005)

''Des Bishop - Fitting In'' (2006)

''Des Bishop - Tongues'' (2007)

''Des Bishop - Desfunctional'' (2009)

References

External links

Official site

New York Times interview

Category:1975 births Category:Alumni of University College Cork Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Irish comedians Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:Irish television personalities Category:People from Queens Category:Living people Category:People from County Galway Category:People from County Wexford Category:People from London

ga:Des Bishop

name	Patrick Henry Pearse
birth date	November 10, 1879
death date	May 03, 1916
birth place	Dublin, Ireland
death place	Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland
allegiance	Irish Republican BrotherhoodIrish VolunteersIrish Republican Army
serviceyears	1913–1916
rank	Commander-in-chiefSupreme Council IRBMilitary Committee IRB
battles	Easter Rising
battles label	Campaign
laterwork	Educator, Principal, Barrister, Republican activist, Poet }}

Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig Pearse; ; An Piarsach; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. He was declared "President of the Provisional Government" of the Irish Republic in one of the bulletins issued by the Rising's leaders, a status that was however disputed by others associated with the rebellion both then and subsequently. Following the collapse of the Rising and the execution of Pearse, along with his brother (Willie Pearse) and fourteen other leaders, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion.

Early life and influences

Patrick Pearse and his brother Willie were born at 27 Great Brunswick Street, the street that is named after them today. It was here that their father, James Pearse, established a stonemasonry business in the 1850s, a business which flourished and provided the Pearses with a comfortable middle-class upbringing. Pearse's father was a mason and monumental sculptor, and originally a Unitarian from Birmingham in England.

The home life of Patrick Pearse was one where he was surrounded by books. His father had very little formal education, but he was a self-educated man. He had two children from his first marriage, Emily and James (two other children died in infancy). His second wife, Margaret Brady was a native of Dublin, but her father's family were from County Meath and were native Irish speakers. The Irish-speaking influence of Pearse's great-aunt Margaret, together with his schooling at the CBS Westland Row, instilled in him an early love for the Irish language.

In 1896, at the age of sixteen, he joined the Gaelic League (''Conradh na Gaeilge''), and in 1903 at the age of 23, he became editor of its newspaper ''An Claidheamh Soluis'' ("The Sword of Light").

Pearse's earlier heroes were the ancient Gaelic folk heroes such as Cúchulainn, though in his 30s he began to take a strong interest in the leaders of past republican movements, such as the United Irishmen Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet. Both had been Protestant, but it was from such men as these that the fervently Catholic Pearse drew inspiration for the rebellion of 1916.

In 1900 Pearse was awarded a BA in Modern Languages (Irish, English and French) by the Royal University of Ireland, he had studied for two years privately and for one at University College Dublin. In 1900 he was also awarded the degree of Barrister-at-Law from the King's Inns.

St Enda's

As a cultural nationalist educated by the Irish Christian Brothers, like his younger brother Willie, Pearse believed that language was intrinsic to the identity of a nation. The Irish school system, he believed, raised Ireland's youth to be good Englishmen or obedient Irishmen, and an alternative was needed. Thus for him and other language revivalists, saving the Irish language from extinction was a cultural priority of the utmost importance. The key to saving the language, he felt, would be a sympathetic education system. To show the way, he started his own bilingual school, St. Enda's School (Scoil Éanna) in Rathfarnham, County Dublin, in 1908. Here, the pupils were taught in both the Irish and English languages.

With the aid of Thomas MacDonagh, Pearse's younger brother Willie Pearse and other (often transient) academics, it soon proved a successful experiment. He did all he planned, and even brought students on fieldtrips to the Gaeltacht in the west of Ireland. Pearse's restless idealism led him in search of an even more idyllic home for his school. He found it in the Hermitage, Rathfarnham, where he moved St. Enda's in 1910. Pearse was also involved in the foundation of St. Ita's school for girls, a school with similar aims to St. Enda's.

However, the new home, while splendidly located in an 18th-century house surrounded by a park and woodlands, caused financial difficulties that almost brought him to disaster. He strove continually to keep ahead of his debts while doing his best to maintain the school. In February 1914 he travelled to the USA to raise money for his ailing school where he met John Devoy and Joseph McGarrity both of whom were impressed by his fervour and supported him in raising sufficient money to secure the continued existence of the school.

The Volunteers and Home Rule

In April 1912 the prospect of self-government for Ireland under a new Home Rule for Ireland Bill became reality, as John Redmond leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, who held the balance of power in the House of Commons committed the government of the United Kingdom to introduce the Bill. Pearse’s attitude towards the Bill was remarkably ambivalent.

Pearse moved from welcoming the Bill, asking all sides to support Redmond’s praiseworthy achievement to demanding a better Bill with the public warning ''Let the Gall understand that if we are cheated this time there will be red war in Ireland''. Pearse was one of four speakers, including Redmond, Joseph Devlin MP, leader of the Northern Nationalists, and Eoin MacNeill a prominent Gaelic Leaguer, who addressed a large Home Rule Rally in Dublin on a public platform at the end of March 1913. Speaking in Irish Pearse threatened revolution if the Bill were not enacted.

In November 1913 Pearse was invited to the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers, formed to enforce the implementation of the Third Home Rule Act passed by the House of Commons in the face of opposition from the Ulster Volunteers. In an article entitled “The Coming Revolution” (Nov. 1913) Pearse wrote

The bill just failed to pass the House of Lords, but the Lord’s diminished power under the Parliament Act 1911 meant that the bill could only be delayed and was finally placed on the statute books with Royal Assent in September 1914, but suspended for the duration of World War I, whose context set the backdrop for events to follow.

John Redmond, leader of the IPP, feared his “national authority” might be circumvented by the Volunteers and decided to control the new movement. Despite opposition from the Irish Republican Brotherhood members, the Volunteer Executive agreed to share leadership with Redmond and a joint committee was set up. Pearse was opposed to this and was to write: an organisation dedicated to the overthrow of British rule in Ireland and its replacement with an Irish Republic. He was soon co-opted onto the IRB's Supreme Council by Tom Clarke. Pearse was then one of many people who were members of both the IRB and the Volunteers. When he became the Volunteers' Director of Military Organisation in 1914 he was the highest ranking Volunteer in the IRB membership, and instrumental in the latter's commandeering of the remaining minority of the Volunteers for the purpose of rebellion. By 1915 he was on the IRB's Supreme Council, and its secret Military Council, the core group that began planning for a rising while war raged on the European Western Front.

On 1 August 1915, Pearse gave a now-famous graveside oration at the funeral of the Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. It closed with the words:

Easter Rising and death

Pearse, given his speaking and writing skills, was chosen by the leading IRB man Tom Clarke to be the spokesman for the Rising. It was Pearse who, in behalf of the IRB shortly before Easter in 1916, issued the orders to all Volunteer units throughout the country for three days of manoeuvres beginning Easter Sunday, which was the signal for a general uprising. When Eoin MacNeill, the Chief of Staff of the Volunteers, learned what was being planned without the promised arms from Germany, he countermanded the orders via newspaper, causing the IRB to issue a last minute order to go through with the plan the following day, greatly limiting the numbers who turned out for the rising.

When the Easter Rising eventually erupted on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, there never was any plan for a military victory in the minds of the leaders. It was Pearse who proclaimed a Republic from the steps of the General Post Office and headquarters of the revolutionaries. After six days fighting, heavy civilian casualties and great destruction of property, Pearse issued the order to surrender along with the remaining leaders.

Pearse and fourteen other leaders, including his brother Willie, were court-martialled and executed by firing squad. Sir Roger Casement, who had tried unsuccessfully to recruit an insurgent force among Irish-born prisoners of war from the Irish Brigade in Germany, was hanged in London the following August. Thomas Clarke, Thomas MacDonagh and Pearse himself were the first of the rebels to be executed, on the morning of 3 May 1916. Pearse was 36 years old at the time of his death.

Sir John Maxwell, the General Officer commanding the British forces in Ireland, sent a telegram to H.H. Asquith, then Prime Minister, advising him not to return the bodies of Pádraig and Willie Pearse to their family, saying: "Irish sentimentality will turn these graves into martyrs’ shrines to which annual processions will be made which would cause constant irritation in this country.

Maxwell also suppressed a letter from Pearse to his mother, and two poems dated 1 May 1916. He submitted copies of them also to Prime Minister Asquith, saying that some of the content was "objectionable." Pearse and his colleagues also discussed proclaiming Prince Joachim (the Kaiser's youngest son) as an Irish constitutional monarch, if the Central Powers won the First World War, which suggests that their ideas for the political future of the country had to await the war's outcome.

Writings

Pearse wrote stories and poems in both Irish and English. His best-known English poems include "The Mother", "The Fool" and "The Wayfarer". He also penned several allegorical plays in the Irish language, including ''The King'', ''The Master'', and ''The Singer''. His short stories in Irish include ''Eoghainín na nÉan'' ("Eoineen of the Birds"), ''Íosagán'', ''Na Bóithre'' ("The Roads"), and ''An Bhean Chaointe'' ("The Keening Woman"). These are translated into English by Joseph Campbell (in the ''Collected Works'' of 1917). Most of his ideas on education are contained in his famous essay "The Murder Machine". He also authored many essays on politics and language, notably "The Coming Revolution" and "Ghosts".

Pearse is closely associated with the song, "Oró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile", for which he composed additional lyrics.

Reputation

Largely because of a series of political pamphlets Pearse wrote in the months leading up to the 1916 Rising, he soon became recognised as the voice of the 1916 Rising. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, Pearse was idolised by Irish nationalists as the supreme idealist of their cause. However, with the outbreak of conflict in Northern Ireland in 1969, Pearse's legacy was used by the Provisional IRA. Pearse's reputation and writings were subject to criticism by some historians who saw him as a dangerous, fanatical, psychologically unsound individual under ultra-religious influences. As Conor Cruise O'Brien, onetime Labour TD and former unionist politician, put it in writing: "Pearse saw the Rising as a Passion Play with real blood."

Others defended Pearse, suggesting that to blame him for what was happening in Northern Ireland was unhistorical and a distortion of the real spirit of his writings. Though the passion of those arguments has waned with the continuing peace in Northern Ireland following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, his complex personality still remains a subject of controversy for those who wish to debate the evolving meaning of Irish nationalism.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described Pearse as one of his heroes and displayed a picture of Pearse over his desk in the Department of the Taoiseach.

His former school, St. Enda's, Rathfarnham, on the south side of Dublin, is now the Pearse Museum dedicated to his memory. Cullenswood House, the old Pearse family house in Ranelagh, where Padraig first founded St. Enda's, today houses a primary ''Gaelscoil'' (school for education through the Irish language) called Lios na nÓg, part of a community-based effort to revive the Irish language. In Ballymun the Patrick Pearse Tower was named after him. It was the first of Ballymun's tower blocks to be demolished in 2004.

Pearse's mother Margaret Pearse served as a TD in Dáil Éireann in the 1920s. His sister Margaret Mary Pearse also served as a TD and Senator.

Footnotes

Sources

Tim Pat Coogan, ''Michael Collins.'' Hutchinson, 1990.

Ruth Dudley Edwards, ''Patrick Pearse: the Triumph of Failure.'' London: Gollancz, 1977.

F.S.L. Lyons, ''Ireland Since the Famine.'' London: Collins/Fontana, 1973.

Dorothy Macardle, ''The Irish Republic.'' Corgi, 1968.

Arthur Mitchell & Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, ''Irish Political Documents 1916-1949.'' Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1985

Sean Farrell Moran, "Patrick Pearse and the Politics of Redemption: The Mind of the Easter Rising 1916." Washington, Catholic University Press, 1994

Mary Pearse, ''The Home Life of Pádraig Pearse''. Cork: Mercier, 1971.

Patrick Pearse, ''Short Stories.'' Trans. Joseph Campbell. Ed. Anne Markey. Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2009

External links

Patrick's census information from 1911 while he was still teaching in St. Enda's School

Patrick's census form part-A

The Murder Machine - Pearse's groundbreaking article on Montessori education

1916 Walking Tour piece on Pearse

The Poetry of Pádraig Pearse

Wolfe Tones">Music Video for the song Pádraig Pearse by the Wolfe Tones

Category:Heads of Irish provisional governments Category:Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Category:Irish-language activists Category:Irish-language writers Category:Irish Gaelic poets Category:Irish poets Category:Irish barristers Category:Irish people of English descent Category:Pearse family Category:People from County Dublin Category:Executed writers Category:Executed participants in the Easter Rising Category:1879 births Category:1916 deaths

br:Padraig Pearse bg:Патрик Пиърс ca:Patrick Pearse cy:Pádraig Pearse de:Patrick Pearse es:Patrick Pearse eo:Pádraig Mac Piarais/Patrick Pearse eu:Patrick Pearse fr:Patrick Pearse ga:Pádraig Mac Piarais gv:Patrick Pearse gl:Patrick Pearse ko:패트릭 피어스 hr:Patrick Pearse is:Patrick Pearse it:Patrick Pearse he:פטריק פירס nl:Patrick Pearse ja:パトリック・ピアース no:Pádraig Pearse pl:Patrick Pearse pt:Patrick Pearse ru:Пирс, Патрик fi:Patrick Pearse sv:Patrick Pearse zh:帕特里克·皮尔斯

Name	Christy Moore
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Christopher Andrew Moore
Birth date	May 07, 1945
Origin	Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, Bodhrán
Genre	Folk, traditional Irish, Pop
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1969–present
Associated acts	Planxty, Moving Hearts
Website	http://www.christymoore.com/ }}

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ''Paddy on the Road'' (a minor release of 500, although made available again on CD through his website and at gigs in 2010) was recorded with Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan) in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.

Early life

Moore was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. He was originally a bank employee who wanted to express himself using traditional music. A bank strike in 1966, which lasted six months (and effectively paralysed Irish commercial life for the duration), resulted in Moore spending considerable time practising music. When the strike ended, Moore had already decided where his passion in life arose, and left the bank for good.

Musical career

1972 brought his first major release, ''Prosperous'' (named after the village of Prosperous, County Kildare, where the album was recorded), which brought together the four musicians who shortly thereafter formed Planxty: Liam Óg O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, and Dónal Lunny. For a time they called themselves "CLAD", an acronym of their names, but soon decided on Planxty.

After leaving Planxty in 1975, Moore continued on his solo career, reforming his old band on occasion (which he has been doing ever since). He also formed the band Moving Hearts with Lunny and five other musicians in 1980. In 2000 he published his autobiography, ''One Voice''.

Moore's earlier years of heavy drinking, sleeping dysfunctional hours, continual travelling, and often eating takeaway foods resulted in a decline in health, and several operations. Moore's battle with alcohol, and subsequent heart operations have taken their toll. At the end of the 1990s, Moore was requested to reduce his workload for medical reasons.

Some of Moore's songs are heavily influenced by drink and the effects of drink. His song "Delirium Tremens" being a good example. Listening to Johnny Mulhern's song "Hard Cases" causes Moore, in his website chat, to recall the Galway drinking scene with local musicians  Mickey Finn, Pete Galligan, Corky and Terry Smith.

On April 17, 2009 Christy Moore released his first new studio album in four years, titled 'Listen' and it was promoted through a series of live gigs.

Political and social commentary

Moore is best known for his political and social commentary, which reflects a leftwing Irish Republican perspective, this despite the fact that his mother was a Fine Gael county councillor and parliamentary candidate in Kildare. He supported the republican H-Block protestors in the 1970s and 1980s with the album ''H-Block'' in 1978, the launch of which was raided by the police, and The Spirit of Freedom. He has also recorded songs by the hunger striker Bobby Sands. However, in 1987 he ceased supporting the military activities of the IRA as a result of the Enniskillen bombing.

Individual political songs he has performed throughout his career include Mick Hanly's 'On the Blanket' about the protests of republican prisoners, his own 'Viva la Quinta Brigada' about Irish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and his own 'Minds Locked Shut' about Bloody Sunday in Derry.

Moore has endorsed a long list of left wing support causes, ranging from El Salvador to Mary Robinson in the 1990 Presidential Election. At Glastonbury Festival in 2005 he sang about the Palestinian solidarity activist Rachel Corrie.

With typical Moore social consciousness, he opened the festival marking Ballymun's inception as Dublin's first Fairtrade Town on 23 November 2006. Ballymun, once synonymous with social deprivation and drug problems, is currently the largest urban regeneration project in northern Europe.

Allusions in his songs

The former Bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, is the subject of Martin Egan's song 'Casey' often performed by Moore.

In 2005, his popular release "Don't Forget Your Shovel" (written by Christie Hennessey) was referenced in a number 1 UK single "The JCB Song" by Nizlopi: "''And the engine rattles my bum like berserk. While we're singin, 'Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work!'''" It was further referenced in the video for the same song; as the line is sung, the characters in the JCB pass a shop called "Christie's Shovels".

In his song "If I Get an Encore" he compares Tulsk to hell,"Mountbellew was like purgatory but Tulsk was just like being in hell". Its a reference to a row that broke during one of his gigs in a Tulsk venue.

Musical style

His solo style includes driving rhythms on guitar and bodhrán as well as slower ballads.

Family

Moore's brother Barry, whose stage name is Luka Bloom, is also a successful singer-songwriter. His nephew, Conor Byrne, is also an accomplished traditional flautist and tin whistle player, with Christy appearing on his ''Wind Dancer'' album.

Memorable Events

An Góilín Surprise

On Friday 6 October 2006 Christy paid a surprise visit to the legendary An Góilín traditional singers' club in Dublin. There, before fifty or so people, Christy took out his guitar (instruments are rarely used in An Góilín, it being a singers' refuge) and sang songs reflective of the Irish language and socially radical culture of the club such as ''Na Conghailigh'', about the deaths of Tomás and Seán Ó Conghaile off Conamara, and Viva la Quinta Brigada, about the role of the Irish fighting with the socialists in the Spanish Civil War.

Desert Island Discs

In June 2007, Christy was guest on Desert Island Discs, a BBC programme that is often considered an accolade. He selected mainly Irish folk music that had inspired him and spoke frankly of personal and political issues that had shaped his life.

Detention Incident, 2004

In October 2004, a story in several news agencies revealed how Moore had been stopped and detained by customs officers at the Welsh port of Holyhead. The article claimed the singer was stopped in his van with his driver, taken into an office and questioned over the lyrics of his songs. The following day in response to the Irish Times article, Moore released a statement saying: "My driver and I were stopped and held for two hours at Holyhead last Monday, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002. My driver and I were held separately in two interrogation rooms. I found the whole experience threatening. I was questioned about the contents of my briefcase." Despite initial reports to the contrary, the singer's van, which was full of musical equipment, was not searched. "I was questioned about lyrics of songs and I was asked a lot of personal questions about members of my family and my children and about my home. At no time was I given any explanation as to why I was being held and interrogated in this manner", he added. He said the fact that Irish people are still being treated this way on their way to Britain is very "saddening". "I had hoped to deal with this matter out of the public domain. But seeing as it has become a news item, I feel the need to offer my side of the story. I found the whole affair quite frightening."

Oxegen

On Sunday 10 July 2011 Christy joined Chris Martin from Coldplay on stage at Oxegen performing the song Ride On.

Discography

Solo

''Paddy on the Road'' (1969)

''Prosperous'' (1972)

''Whatever Tickles Your Fancy'' (1975)

''Christy Moore'' (1976)

''The Iron Behind the Velvet'' (1978)

''Live in Dublin'' (1978)

''H Block'' (1980)

''Christy Moore and Friends'' (1981)

''The Time Has Come'' (1983)

''Ride On'' (1984)

''Ordinary Man'' (1985)

''The Spirit of Freedom'' (1986)

''Unfinished Revolution'' (1987)

''Voyage'' (1989)

''Smoke and Strong Whiskey'' (1991)

''King Puck'' (1993)

''Live at the Point'' (1994)

''Graffiti Tongue'' (1996)

''Traveller'' (1999)

''This is the Day'' (2001)

''Live at Vicar Street'' (2002)

''Burning Times'' (2005)

''Live at The Point 2006'' (2006)

''Listen'' (2009)

With Planxty

''Planxty'' (1972)

''The Well Below the Valley'' (1973)

''Cold Blow And The Rainy Night'' (1974)

''After The Break'' (1979)

''The Woman I Loved So Well'' (1980)

''Words and Music'' (1983)

''Planxty Live 2004'' (2004)

With Moving Hearts

''Moving Hearts'' (1981)

''Dark End Of The Street'' (1982)

Compilation albums

''High Kings of Tara (Christy Moore, Planxty,..)'' (1980)

''Nice 'n Easy'' (1984)

''Aris (Planxty)'' (1984)

''Christy Moore (Compilation USA)'' (1988)

''The Christy Moore Collection 1981–1991'' (1991)

''Christy Moore Collection Part 2'' (1997)

''The Box Set 1964 2004'' (2004)

Video

''Christy (1995) 54 mins - Christy reflects on life and career.

DVDS

''Christy Moore Uncovered (2001) 104 mins - features collaborations with Jimmy MacCarthy, Wally Page, Shane McGowan, Sinéad O'Connor and John Spillane.

''Planxty Live 2004 The reunion of the hugely popular and influential group after a 20 year hiatus.

''Christy Moore Live In Dublin 2006 (2006) 143 mins - First time a live solo concert has been recorded and released outside CD format. Filmed over 4 nights in December 2005 and January 2006.

References

http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_detail.php?id=13

http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_detail.php?id=178

External links

Christy Moore's home page

Review of a Christy Moore concert in Nottingham November 2007

Review of a Christy Moore concert in Dublin in 2001

Christy Moore The Early Years

4711ers.org '4711' is a term Christy coined which refers to his online fanbase.

Category:1945 births Category:Newbridge, County Kildare Category:People from County Kildare Category:Irish male singers Category:Irish folk singers Category:Living people Category:People of the Year Awards winners

de:Christy Moore eu:Christy Moore fr:Christy Moore ga:Christy Moore gv:Christy Moore it:Christy Moore nl:Christy Moore no:Christy Moore pl:Christy Moore pt:Christy Moore sv:Christy Moore